Media certification is a process that is performed to ensure a requisite quality level exists in a media's capability to store data and retain it. Generally, certification involves writing a preselected user data pattern in the storage area and then analyzing a readback signal for indications of flaws in the media. A flaw may exist because of nonconformities in the media, or may be due to a presence of contamination or debris. Screening the media for flaws before it escapes the factory or even reaches the finished goods is essential to building the expected quality and reliability into the end product.
Media servowriting is a process whereby servo information is stored to media in a deliberate manner to delineate the storage area into an addressable space. In a data storage disc, for example, addressable locations are defined at the intersection of a designated radial position, such as track number, and a designated rotational position, such as sector number. Pluralities of discrete servo sectors form rings across the storage space, be they concentric or spiral rings. A data transfer element continuously feeds the servo information back to a servo control system as the element is moved about in the storage space. The control system utilizes the servo information to position the element, such as in deriving an optimal trajectory for moving the element to a desired track and maintaining the element at the desired track.
Both certification and servowriting entail carrying out relatively time-intensive processes within what is a highly automated and fast paced manufacturing system. The claimed embodiments are directed to improvements in both the effectiveness and the efficiency with which processes such as certifying and servowriting can be performed.